Anil Kakodkar, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, has said India should evolve and nurture an innovative eco-system and respond to technology demands.
Addressing the 70th anniversary of the Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI) here on Tuesday, he said creating such an eco-system needed a change in mindset across all domains of society and breaking out from silo mentality.
On technology vision for India 2035, he said the new vision betted on emerging technologies to overcome challenges in ensuring inclusive growth and improved quality of life.
“Such a technology leap must take advantage of India’s democratic dividend,” he suggested.
The vision statement envisioned India’s technology future modes comparing it to four gaits of a horse: galloping, cantering, trotting and walking, he said. “India gallops in some areas such as space, nuclear, information and missile technologies, canters to keep pace in few areas such as civil aviation and road transport, and trots in a few others such as food, manufacturing and electronics,” he said.
India has not been able to walk the talk in time in many areas such as room temperature superconductivity, he said. India shone well during the agrarian era, but missed the bus during the industrial era, he said.
India invested only 0.88% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in research and development programmes, but its investment was huge in absolute terms considering the country’s economy, he said.
“It is sad that in most industries Indian expertise still lacks a global edge and we remain heavily dependent on many key foreign technologies,” he regretted. The translation of research findings to commercialisation was strapped for want of funds, he said.
“It is, however, a matter of pride that despite foreign rule, technology denial and embargos, India has managed to fly its flag high,” he said.
Today, countries such as Israel were keen on ‘making together’ with India, he said adding, the only way to sustain the momentum was to become a major player in the technology-production game.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Vijayamohanan K. Pillai, Director, CECRI, said that with changing priorities it was necessary for scientists to prune their activities to those that impact the 125 million people of this country.
